A couple of weeks ago, Dave wrote about Moby’s work to prevent murder and domestic violence in support of a bill by Senator Leland Yee.  Moby’s concert tomorrow at the Warfield in San Francisco will benefit domestic violence shelters.

This week, Senator Yee has made some progress on his front. His bill to earmark money from the crime victims fund for domestic violence shelters has gotten one step closer to reality.

The emergency bill authorized the transfer of $16.3 million to domestic violence shelters. While it doesn’t sound like much, it will likely be enough to keep many of them running through the year.

“Governor Schwarzenegger has put women and children at risk; he will now have a second chance to do the right thing,” said Yee.  “Each passing day only results in the closing of more domestic violence shelters and victims facing homelessness or returning to their abuser.”

“In order to keep the remaining domestic violence shelters open, it is absolutely vital that the Governor immediately sign this bill into law,” said Yee.  “Failure to do so will only result in increased health care, law enforcement and other costs to the state. But more critically, it puts victims of domestic violence and their children in grave danger.”

Schwarzenegger has said that he’s not inclined to sign the bill as the fund is heading towards depletion, but Arnold isn’t known as a man who gets himself dead set on anything.  We’ll see if he takes the initiative to help prevent some very serious crimes.

Musical artist Moby has decided to donate 100% of the proceeds of three upcoming concerts in California, totaling anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000, to help out domestic violence shelters who saw their state funding cut by Governor Schwarzenegger back in July.

Six shelters that temporarily house victims and their families have closed since Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto to eliminate their funding in July. Advocates say dozens more of the 94 agencies that received a total of $20.4 million in state money last year have scaled back services and cuts hours and staff.

“In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a lot of money,” Moby said about the cuts during a phone interview from Chicago. “But it’s going to directly harm the women who benefit from these programs.”

Moby, whose real name is Richard Melville Hall, said he hopes to generate $75,000 to $100,000 from dates in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco from Oct. 12 through 15 to give to the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

“My mother was in a long relationship with a guy who was very, very abusive and at one point I had to stop him from stabbing her to death,” Moby said.

The money will go to the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.

Domestic violence shelters are nothing more than homicide prevention units.  Schwarzenegger’s cuts – made by blue pencil after the Legislature passed a budget agreement – caused a huge threat to public safety that could cost more in court and law enforcement money in the long run.  Republicans like him probably think that, as long as charitable donations have stepped into the breach, the state can be absolved for their efforts to threaten women’s lives.  But the $100,000, while extremely generous, is just a small fraction of the money that was cut.

Maybe some other celebrity could hold events with the proceeds going to domestic violence shelters.  Maybe someone who had a long movie career and has a legion of adoring fans.  Or maybe we can fund government properly and we wouldn’t have to hold fundraisers to save women from being beaten or killed.

True to the reality of a weak political media and an inattentive public, the chatter over the results of the July budget revision, despite major cuts to the social safety net, has completely subsided.  No taxes got increased and nobody “important” got hurt, so it was just time to move on.  Politicians just move on to the business of raising corporate money, special interests can move on to the business of writing laws that help their bottom line, and everybody in Sacramento can praise everybody else for “sacrificing” to get things done.  

Only, for the people living under the consequences of these budgets, created through a choice not to properly pay for needed services, the budget battle is not forgotten.  And it doesn’t consist of a group of numbers in a column.  It’s entirely real and it hits them every single day.  Here’s just one example.

Six domestic violence shelters in California have been forced to close while dozens more are scaling back services after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated all state funding for the program that supports them.

Shelters in the Central Valley town of Madera, the Sierra foothill town of Grass Valley and in Ventura County in Southern California have closed. Others in the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Bakersfield are on the verge of closing.

Many centers are laying off staff and closing satellite offices that serve remote areas of the state as they cope with the budget cuts. A national domestic violence group describes California’s as the deepest cuts to such programs nationwide, even as other states have reduced funding.

In Madera County, officials have turned away six domestic violence victims and eight children since the county’s only shelter closed Aug. 7, said Tina Figueroa, the shelter’s director. The Martha Diaz Shelter served about 100 victims a year, many of them low-income and with no place else to turn, she said.

So 100 victims of domestic violence in smallish Madera County now have truly nowhere to turn, and will either suffer under the boot of their abusive partners or, in many cases, be killed by them.  The director of domestic violence policy in the LA City Attorney’s office pretty clearly calls these programs “homicide prevention.”  It also saves money relative to what you spend prosecuting the eventual homicides.  I’ve seen “tough on crime” conservatives over the years invoke the name of victims and stir up public support for laws in their name.  They go curiously silent when hundreds of domestic violence victims are put at risk of death because they want to save rich people and corporations from having to pay for their fair share of the commons.

These closures are the direct result of line-item cuts by the Governor.  So the blood is on his hands.  Leland Yee has a bill that attempts to cover the domestic violence shelter budget with cash from a crime victims fund, but under 2/3 rules, it’s not likely to pass this week.

Kudos to the AP for doing a story on this; but there need to be many more.  There’s a human face on the budget cuts that has completely been lost and forgotten.  Those suffering are right to suspect that nobody in Sacramento cares about them.

One of the tragedies of the budget “deal” was that many domestic violence shelters’ budgets were dramatically slashed.  Many of them would simply have no other choice than closing their doors either permanently or for part of the year.  Obviously, this is a dangerous “solution” that emerged from the minds in the Horseshoe.

Sen. Leland Yee (D-SF/Peninsula), on the other hand, was no huge budget supporter. He voted for a handful of the bills, but voted No more than most senators.  And then Governor Tuffy McBloodyHands decides to veto funding completely for 94 centers.  Now, this may or may not be legal, but something needs to change.  Thinking about this horrible disaster forced him to work on some other solutions.  He thinks he’s on to one with a bill he’s bringing to the legislature.

“I don’t know why he did it. This puts kids and moms at risk,” said state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo.

The program faced a 20 percent budget reduction before Schwarzenegger completely eliminated funding for 94 domestic violence shelters in the state.

“It is absolutely vital that we keep domestic violence shelters open,” said Yee, who voted against cuts to the domestic violence program. The veto increases health care, law enforcement and other costs to the state and puts victims of domestic violence and their children in grave danger, he said. …

Yee said his legislation allocates $16.3 million from the victims’ compensation fund, with a current balance of $136 million, to the Domestic Violence Program. (San Mateo Daily Journal 8/5/09)

Hopefully this is an urgency measure, but the Governor’s people are saying that the fund is being spent at a pace that it will be gone by 2012.  Yee debates those figures, but I’m sure the Legislative Analyst will have something to say on this one.

It’s hard to choose the most cruel or the most thoughtless among Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line-item cuts added to the budget revision.  But you could make a case for the slashing of all state funding for domestic violence centers, for a savings of about $16 million dollars.  LAist profiles one center, in the Santa Clarita Valley, that will probably now have to close:

The Domestic Violence Center in the Santa Clarita Valley is the only agency that provides domestic violence services in the 200-square mile valley. As a result of Schwarzenegger’s cut, which is immediate, they’ve lost 45%, or $207,222.00, of their annual funding, which they say will force them to close their doors later this year unless the community supports them with donations. In 2008, they served over 1,000 victims of domestic violence.

“As the Center’s Executive Director, I think about every client who has come through our doors and their horrific stories of abuse – I cannot help but cry when I think about what the loss of our services will mean to victims,” said Executive Director Nicole Shellcroft in a statement. “Those who walk through our doors have suffered through broken bones, beatings, strangulation, food deprivation, arson, torture, genital mutilation and unspeakable sexual violence. They have been thrown down flights of stairs, have been victim to violent physical attacks during pregnancy and have even faced the prospect of murder. Victims seek our services to escape incredible violence aimed at them and their children.”

Here’s another profile, from Oroville in Butte County.

This is what we are talking about when we say that people will die from the decisions made by Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature.  The $16 million in cuts represent a pittance of the budget and far less than the $2 billion dollar annual tax cut for the largest corporations in America instituted back in February.  But, we are told, those businesses would flee the state if they were forced to contribute a fair share of taxes for the commons that they use, so instead, women and their children will have practically nowhere to turn to save themselves from spousal abuse.

It turns out that some businesses are dismayed enough to consider leaving California – not because of the lack of tax breaks, because of all of the budget cuts and the impact on the workforce.

Wilbur D.Curtis invented the globular glass coffeepot, that staple of coffee counters everywhere, in 1940. Since then his son and grandsons have turned Wilbur Curtis Co. into a manufacturing concern that earns revenue approaching $100 million by turning out commercial coffee brewing equipment from a sprawling factory in Montebello.

But their long history in California doesn’t exempt the Curtis family from the costs and hassles that give this state its reputation as one of the hardest places in the country to do business […]

Yet it’s plain that the state government has failed in precisely those areas where it can make a difference. Laws’ main concern isn’t strictly how much money the state spends — it’s that the bucks don’t go where they count.

His two biggest issues are education and infrastructure. “We pay a fortune here to educate people on basic things like writing and math skills that they should have learned in high school,” he says. The company, whose workforce is mostly Latino, also provides training in English as a second language — including for some employees who came through the public schools […]

Then there’s that lifeblood of any firm whose products can’t be shipped through cyberspace — transport.

Traffic congestion in the L.A. basin has become a round-the-clock hassle. Laws says one of his biggest customers, a coffee company with a national reach, opened a local facility here to be near its own big customers, only to find that navigating the overstressed road system drove its costs to twice its expectations.

And these complaints about infrastructure and education exist before budget revisions that would decimate the future of higher education for a generation of students, and only harm the ability to create the infrastructure necessary for densely populated areas in the 21st century.

We’re picking away at safety net programs and increasing the danger and suffering for a whole class of citizens, while protecting the largest corporations and the wealthiest campaign contributors.  And the actual lifeblood of job creation, the small business community, would rather see investment than the current hijacking of state government by those who want to dismantle it.

Related: Marc Cooper’s cover story on California at The Nation.

Under current law, prosecutors can incarcerate domestic violence victims to make them testify against the perpetrator.  Unfortunately, this has the effect of scaring many victims out of testifying. The practice was previously banned for sexual assault victims. Well, today, consider that practice an historical one for domestic violence victims as well:

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Los Angeles) today signed into law a bill that victim advocates believe will result in more women coming forward to law enforcement after falling victim to domestic violence.  Senate Bill 1356, authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), protects domestic violence survivors from the threat of incarceration when they refuse to testify against their abuser in court.   The law mirrors an existing statute for sexual assault victims.

Full Press release over the flip

SACRAMENTO – Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-Los Angeles) today signed into law a bill that victim advocates believe will result in more women coming forward to law enforcement after falling victim to domestic violence.  Senate Bill 1356, authored by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo), protects domestic violence survivors from the threat of incarceration when they refuse to testify against their abuser in court.   The law mirrors an existing statute for sexual assault victims.

“I am very pleased to see the Governor and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support this commonsense and much-needed legislation,” said Yee.  “Domestic violence survivors have been through enough; the last thing they need is to be re-victimized by our legal system or be exposed to threats of incarceration.  This law is not going to result in fewer prosecutions, but instead just the opposite.  Survivors are more likely to report incidents of domestic violence when they trust law enforcement and our system of justice.”

In fact, in a letter regarding another bill before the Legislature in 1991, then Los Angeles District Attorney Ira Reiner agreed with Yee and victim advocates.  The letter from Reiner’s special counsel John Lovell stated, “Prosecutors who raise the spectra of possible incarceration of victim/witnesses diminish the credibility of the criminal justice system as an effective instrument in combating domestic violence.  The unintended consequence of those types of warnings is a chilling constraint on victim/witnesses to come forward in these types of cases at all.”

“SB 1356 ensures that victims of domestic violence have the same statutory protections as sexual assault victims and exempts them from the threat of being incarcerated for refusal to testify against their perpetrators,” said Schwarzenegger.  “Domestic violence victims, like many sexual assault victims, are victimized by perpetrators they know, and experience similar psychological trauma and fear of retribution from the abuser or the abuser’s family members.”

“Coercion is a draconian practice that should not be used in getting a victim to testify after just facing a similar control tactic from her abuser,” said Yee.  “Instead, prosecutors should work with advocates in getting the victim to a place where she is comfortable and willing to testify, which in turn will result in a much more successful prosecution.  SB 1356 also rightfully considers the children in domestic violence cases, who will no longer be put at risk of losing both parents and being unfairly pushed into foster care.”

Since 1991, sexual assault victims have not faced imprisonment if they decide not to testify in a criminal case, whereas domestic violence victims under a second contempt charge have been subject to incarceration.  This law was tested in 2005, when the district attorney in San Mateo County pursued and a judge ordered jail time to a victim for refusing to testify against her abuser.  The state appeals court later dissolved the contempt charge due to the fact that the case was already prosecuted and resulted in a guilty verdict without the victim’s testimony.

“I felt that the system had given up on me,” said Katina Britt, the victim in the case.  “The district attorney did not protect me, even though I was a victim of a serious bodily injury crime.  The DA wanted to victimize me once more and the court willingly obliged.  I wish I had the protection sought by Senator Yee’s bill.”

“It is improper and unjust to hold the victim personally responsible for winning a guilty verdict against the batterer,” said Yee.  “There is no evidence to suggest that forced testimony leads to higher conviction rates.  It is unconscionable that survivors of domestic violence have faced such threats and even more disturbing that some have been dealt jail sentences after falling victim to something out of their control.”

“As the state domestic violence coalition, our primary concern is for victims’ safety,” said Marivic Mabanag, Executive Director of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.  “It is the victims themselves who are in the best position to judge when testifying against their abusers might pose a serious threat to themselves or their children.”

In addition to the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence, the bill was supported by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, California Psychiatric Association, California Protective Parents Association, California Public Defenders Association, Crime Victims United, Equality California, Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC), Taxpayers for Improving Public Safety, and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), as well as over fifty other prevention advocacy organizations throughout the state.

SB 1356 is Yee’s first bill signed by the Governor in 2008.  SB 1356 officially becomes law on January 1, 2009.